1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for endovascular electrothrombic formation of thrombi in arteries, veins, aneurysms, vascular malformations and arteriovenous fistulas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Approximately 25,000 intracranial aneurysms rupture every year in North America. The primary purpose of treatment for ruptured intracranial aneurysm is to prevent rebleeding. At the present time, three general methods of treatment exist, namely an extravascular, endovascular and extra-endovascular approach.
The extravascular approach is comprised of surgery or microsurgery of the aneurysm or treatment site for the purpose of preserving the parent artery. This treatment is common with intracranial berry aneurysms. The methodology comprises the step of clipping the neck of the aneurysm, performing a suture-ligation of the neck, or wrapping the entire aneurysm. Each of these surgical procedures is performed by intrusive invasion into the body and performed from outside the aneurysm or target site. General anesthesia, craniotomy, brain retraction and arachnoid dissection around the neck of the aneurysm and placement of a clip are typically required in these surgical procedures. Surgical treatment of vascular intracranial aneurysm can expect a mortality rate of 4-8% with a morbidity rate of 18-20%. Because of the mortality and morbidity rate expected, the surgical procedure is often delayed while waiting for the best surgical time with the result that an additional percentage of patients will die from the underlying disease or defect prior to surgery. For this reason the prior art has sought alternative means of treatment.
In the endovascular approach, the interior of the aneurysm is entered through the use of a microcatheter. Recently developed microcatheters, such as those shown by Engelson, "Catheter Guidewire", U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,579 and as described in Engelson, "Catheter for Guidewire Tracking", U.S. Pat, No. 4,739,768 (1988), allow navigation into the cerebral arteries and entry into a cranial aneurysm.
In such procedures a balloon is typically attached to the end of the microcatheter and it is possible to introduce the balloon into the aneurysm, inflate it, and detach it, leaving it to occlude the sac and neck with preservation of the parent artery. While endovascular balloon embolization of berry aneurysms is an attractive method in situations where an extravascular surgical approach is difficult, inflation of a balloon into the aneurysm carries some risk of aneurysm rupture due to possible over-distention of portions of the sac and due to the traction produced while detaching the balloon.
While remedial procedures exist for treating a ruptured aneurysm during classical extravascular surgery, no satisfactory methodology exists if the aneurysm breaks during an endovascular balloon embolization.
Furthermore, an ideal embolizing agent should adapt itself to the irregular shape of the internal walls of the aneurysm. On the contrary, in a balloon embolization the aneurysmal wall must conform to the shape of the balloon. This may not lead to a satisfactory result and further increases the risk of rupture.
Still further, balloon embolization is not always possible. If the diameter of the deflated balloon is too great to enter the intracerebral arteries, especially in the cases where there is a vasospasm, complications with ruptured intracranial aneurysms may occur. The procedure then must be deferred until the spasm is resolved and this then incurs a risk of rebleeding.
In the extra-intravascular approach, an aneurysm is surgically exposed or stereotaxically reached with a probe. The wall of the aneurysm is then perforated from the outside and various techniques are used to occlude the interior in order to prevent it from rebleeding. These prior art techniques include electrothrombosis, isobutyl-cyanoacrylate embolization, hog-hair embolization and ferromagnetic thrombosis.
In the use of electrothrombosis for extra-intravascular treatment the tip of a positively charged electrode is inserted surgically into the interior of the aneurysm. An application of the positive charge attracts white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets and fibrinogen which are typically negatively charged at the normal pH of the blood. The thrombic mass is then formed in the aneurysm about the tip. Thereafter, the tip is removed. See Mullan, "Experiences with Surgical Thrombosis of Intracranial Berry Aneurysms and Carotid Cavernous Fistulas", J. Neurosurg., Vol. 41, December 1974; Hosobuchi, "Electrothrombosis Carotid-Cavernous Fistula", J. Neurosurg., Vol. 42, January 1975; Araki et al., "Electrically Induced Thrombosis for the Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysms and Angiomas", Excerpta Medica International Congress Series, Amsterdam 1965, Vol. 110, 651-654; Sawyer et al., "Bio-Electric Phenomena as an Etiological Factor in Intravascular Thrombosis", Am. J. Physiol., Vol. 175, 103-107 (1953); J. Piton et al., "Selective Vascular Thrombosis Induced by a Direct Electrical Current; Animal Experiments", J. Neuroradiology, Vol. 5, pages 139-152 (1978). However, each of these techniques involves some type of intrusive procedure to approach the aneurysm from the exterior of the body.
The prior art has also devised the use of a liquid adhesive, isobutylcyanoacrylate (IBCA) which polymerizes rapidly on contact with blood to form a firm mass. The liquid adhesive is injected into the aneurysm by puncturing the sac with a small needle. In order to avoid spillage into the parent artery during IBCA injection, blood flow through the parent artery must be momentarily reduced or interrupted. Alternatively, an inflated balloon may be placed in the artery at the level of the neck of the aneurysm for injection. In addition to the risks caused by temporary blockage of the parent artery, the risks of seepage of such a polymerizing adhesive into the parent artery exists, if it is not completely blocked with consequent occlusion of the artery.
Still further, the prior art has utilized an air gun to inject hog hair through the aneurysm wall to induce internal thrombosis. The success of this procedure involves exposing the aneurysm sufficiently to allow air gun injection and has not been convincingly shown as successful for thrombic formations.
Ferromagnetic thrombosis in the prior art in extra-intravascular treatments comprises the stereotactic placement of a magnetic probe against the sac of the aneurysm followed by injection into the aneurysm by an injecting needle of iron microspheres. Aggregation of the microspheres through the extravascular magnet is followed by interneuysmatic thrombus. This treatment has not been entirely successful because of the risk of fragmentation of the metallic thrombus when the extravascular magnet is removed. Suspension of the iron powder in methyl methymethacrylate has been used to prevent fragmentation. The treatment has not been favored, because of the need to puncture the aneurysm, the risk of occlusion of the parent artery, the use of unusual and expensive equipment, the need for a craniectomy and general anesthesia, and the necessity to penetrate cerebral tissue to reach the aneurysm.
Endovascular coagulation of blood is also well known in the art and a device using laser optically generated heat is shown by O'Reilly, "Optical Fiber with Attachable Metallic Tip for Intravascular Laser Coagulation of Arteries, Veins, Aneurysms, Vascular Malformation and Arteriovenous Fistulas", U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,201 (1988). See also, O'Reilly et al., "Laser Induced Thermal Occlusion of Berry Aneurysms: Initial Experimental Results", Radiology, Vol. 171, No. 2, pages 471-74 (1989). O'Reilly places a tip into an aneurysm by means of an endovascular microcatheter. The tip is adhesively bonded to a optic fiber disposed through the microcatheter. Optical energy is transmitted along the optic fiber from a remote laser at the proximal end of the microcatheter. The optical energy heats the tip to cauterize the tissue surrounding the neck of the aneurysm or other vascular opening to be occluded. The catheter is provided with a balloon located on or adjacent to its distal end to cut off blood flow to the site to be cauterized and occluded. Normally, the blood flow would carry away the heat at the catheter tip, thereby preventing cauterization. The heat in the tip also serves to melt the adhesive used to secure the tip to the distal end of the optical fiber. If all goes well, the tip can be separated from the optical fiber and left in place in the neck of the aneurysm, provided that the cauterization is complete at the same time as the hot melt adhesive melts.
A thrombus is not formed from the heated tip. Instead, blood tissue surrounding the tip is coagulated. Coagulation is a denaturation of protein to form a connective-like tissue similar to that which occurs when the albumen of an egg is heated and coagulates from a clear running liquid to an opaque white solid. The tissue characteristics and composition of the coagulated tissue is therefore substantially distinct from the thrombosis which is formed by the thrombotic aggregation of white and red blood cells, platelets and fibrinogen. The coagulative tissue is substantially softer than a thrombic mass and can therefore more easily be dislodged.
O'Reilly's device depends at least in part upon the successful cauterization timed to occur no later than the detachment of the heat tip from the optic fiber. The heated tip must also be proportionally sized to the neck of the aneurysm in order to effectively coagulate the tissue surrounding it to form a blockage at the neck. It is believed that the tissue in the interior of the aneurysm remains substantially uncoagulated. In addition, the hot melt adhesive attaching the tip to the optic fiber melts and is dispersed into the adjacent blood tissue where it resolidifies to form free particles within the intracranial blood stream with much the same disadvantages which result from fragmentation of a ferromagnetic electrothrombosis.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and methodology which avoids each of the shortcomings and limitations of the prior art discussed above.